59 Years of San Diego Chargers History

The San Diego Chargers can trace their lineage to August 1959, when Barron Hilton met with representatives from five other cities
to discuss a proposed football league, which later became known as the American Football League (AFL).

The AFL began in 1960 with eight teams, including Hilton's Los Angeles Chargers, the Denver Broncos, Dallas Texans,
Oakland Raiders, New York Titans, Houston Oilers, Buffalo Bills and the Boston Patriots.

After moving to San Diego in 1961, the Chargers went on to play nine more years in the AFL. In all, the Bolts reached the
AFL playoffs five times and the AFL Championship four times.
They won the AFL Championship in 1963
when they beat the Boston Patriots 51-10 before 30,127 fans at Balboa Stadium.

The AFL and the National Football League (NFL) merged before the 1970 season, and in 40 seasons since then,
the Chargers have been the AFC West Champion nine times.
The Chargers won the AFC Championship in 1994 beating the Pittsburgh Steelers 17-13.
Unfortunately, they lost to the San Francisco 49ers 49-26 in Super Bowl XXIX for the NFL Championship.

After the 2016 NFL Season the Chargers announced they would move to Los Angeles for the 2017 NFL Season.
Starting with the 2019 NFL Season, the Los Angeles Chargers will be sharing a stadium with the Los Angeles Rams.